Written Answers Thursday 9 July 2009

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Article 42 (5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 allows member states to tackle disadvantages faced by groups of farmers, such as Scotland’s deer farmers who do not receive the single farm payment, and, if so, whether it will act in response to the concerns of deer farmers and use this article to support deer farmers.

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that deer farmers in Scotland are at a competitive disadvantage compared with those in England as they do not receive the single farm payment and, if so, what action it will take to put the Scottish deer farming sector on a level playing field with England.

Richard Lochhead: The national reserve provision allows member states limited scope to assist farming if there is a risk of land abandonment or in order to compensate for specific disadvantages. It has not, so far, been possible to make a case for deer farmers that meets all the conditions for the national reserve set out in the legislation, even under the latest version (EC/73/2009).

  However, an inquiry into future support for agriculture in Scotland has begun, which will look in particular at the single farm payment, and a report is due next year. Deer farmers can also apply for support under a range of other government-funded schemes.

Agriculture

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to increase the contribution that farming can make to reducing the impact of greenhouse gasses on climate change; what relevant strategies it is introducing or supporting, and when it will introduce a coordinated strategy for agriculture with reference to climate change impact reduction.

Richard Lochhead: Chapter 6 of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Delivery Plan  (see link below), published in June, sets out the Government’s intentions in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farming and other rural land uses. As the delivery plan makes clear, more detailed strategies for all sectors will be published in 2010 in the Government’s report on proposals and policies. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/18103720/0 .

Animal Welfare

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24239 by Richard Lochhead on 5 June 2009, whether it is considering issuing a code of practice on the welfare of racing greyhounds.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government does not intend to issue a code of practice specifically on the welfare of racing greyhounds. A code of practice on the welfare of dogs will be issued later in the year and much of the advice in that code will be appropriate for racing greyhounds. Practical guidance on track safety and other matters is available from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.

Coastal Protection

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it makes available to local authorities affected by coastal change to allow them to develop adaptation schemes.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is funding several initiatives to make sure local authorities have access to the best information and tools to build their capacity to adapt, or prepare for a changing climate. These include £185,500 in 2009-10 and £200,000 in 2010-11 to develop the Scottish Climate Change Impact Partnership - a free information and resource hub for local authorities and other organisations in Scotland. The Scottish Government is also providing 50,159 Euros in match funding to the CoastAdapt project. The project will investigate "adaptation to climate change in coastal communities and habitats on Europe’s Northern Periphery" and is being delivered as part of the Northern Periphery Programme 2007-13. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the lead partner for Scotland in this international partnership.

  The Scottish Government also part funds the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) to coordinate scientific research into the impacts of a changing climate, and to help organisations adapt to those unavoidable impacts. This means that Scottish local authorities have access to world-leading climate projections to help them prepare for the unavoidable consequences of climate change.

  The Scottish Government is also funding, in partnership with the UK Government, the development of a UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) to improve our understanding of the consequences of likely climate change.

  More specifically, the Scottish Government is providing up to £200,000 to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for a hydrodynamics study of coastal processes at the South Ford. This will inform the Council’s policies on coastal erosion and adaptation on South Uist and Benbecula.

Equine Industry

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the data held on microchips implanted in horses cannot be deliberately erased by those seeking to conceal their ownership of these animals prior to their abandonment as has been happening elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government, along with colleagues from Northern Ireland, England, and Wales are unaware of any incidents of microchips being wiped prior to animals being abandoned.

  Microchips to be used under the new horse passport regulations must adhere to internationally recognised ISO standards covering radio frequency identification (RFID). RFID chips are not magnetically encoded; therefore magnets or tape erasers will not affect the chip. This is the same technology that has been used for several years with the pet travel scheme where no problem of erased data has been detected.

Equine Industry

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to make horse owners and keepers aware of their new responsibilities under the amended Equine Identification Regulations 2009 that come into force on 1 July 2009.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government worked with the horse industry in preparing the new legislation. We are currently finalising guidance that has been produced in partnership with the horse industry. The guidance will be sent to all Passport Issuing Offices (PIO) for them to pass on to their members. This guidance will also be published on the Scottish Government website.

Fisheries

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated value to the economy is of fishing cooperatives.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government has not estimated the value of fishing cooperatives to the economy.

  According to the Cooperative Review 2008, published by Cooperatives UK, the 69 fishing cooperatives across the UK generated £1 million of profit on a combined turnover of £29.5 million. A link to this report is given below:

  http://www.cooperatives-uk.coop/live/images/cme_resources/Public/Co-operative%20Review%202008/Review08.pdf.

Less Favoured Areas

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the stakeholders who will be involved in the consultation on the definition of active farming to be used to focus Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2010 funding on farmers and crofters who are genuinely active.

Richard Lochhead: My officials have written to all members of the Less Favoured Area (LFA) stakeholders group inviting them to join a small technical working group to discuss detailed rules for the future of the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS). The following organisations have accepted the invitation: NFU Scotland, Scottish Rural Property Business Association (SRPBA), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Environmental Link, National Sheep Association (NSA), Scottish Crofting Foundation (SCF), Scottish Beef Cattle Association (SBCA), and National Beef Association (NBA) Scotland.

Less Favoured Areas

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for the consultation with stakeholders on the definition of active farming to be used to focus Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2010 funding on farmers and crofters who are genuinely active.

Richard Lochhead: The first meeting was held on 16 July 2009, and the detailed rules will need to be finalised by the beginning of 2010.

Less Favoured Areas

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the outcome of the consultation with stakeholders on the definition of active farming to be used to focus Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2010 funding on farmers and crofters who are genuinely active will be the subject of a full public consultation.

Richard Lochhead: The future of the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) post-2010 has already been subject to a full public consultation. Following an analysis of the consultation responses, it was the consensus view that LFASS payments must be linked to activity. At the combined CAP/LFASS stakeholder meeting held on 16 June, it was agreed that a small technical working group would be set up. The purpose of this group will be for members to look closely at the more detailed rules of the scheme, including a definition of the active farming requirement.

Less Favoured Areas

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what definitions of active farming it used to assess the contribution to the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2010 budget of linking LFASS payments to active farming and what its assessment is of the impact of those definitions on the LFASS funding that each area will receive.

Richard Lochhead: The Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) payments for 2007-09 were calculated on certain frozen LFASS 2006 historic values, including grazing categories. For LFASS 2010, it is the intention to rebase using 2008 data. The precise detail of how this rebasing is to be done has still to be decided and will form part of the discussions within the technical working group.

Less Favoured Areas

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new definition of active farming to be used to focus Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2010 funding on farmers and crofters who are genuinely active will include activity aimed at achieving environmental objectives.

Richard Lochhead: In principle, the Scottish Government intends that all agricultural activity will be taken into account in the new activity rules. However, the detailed rules have still to be drawn up and this will be one of several issues to be discussed by members of the technical working group.

Marine Environment

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken a survey of the extent of the pollution of beaches by litter, from land and sea, or whether it plans to do so.

Richard Lochhead: Scottish Government provides funding to the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB).

  KSB carries out surveys of all award winning beaches each summer for cleanliness in line with the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (COPLAR).

  There are four standards of beach cleanliness. These are: cleanliness grade A (no litter or refuse), cleanliness grade B (predominantly free of litter), cleanliness grade C (consistent distribution of litter and refuse) and cleanliness grade D (heavily littered with significant accumulations). Beaches should achieve at least a grade B at all times. When they drop below this standard they must be returned to at least a grade B within a set timescale. Further information about the cleanliness standards and the timescales is available from the COPLAR website operated by KSB www.littercode.org.

Marine Environment

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the existing legislation that can be used to tackle the pollution of beaches by litter from land and sea.

Richard Lochhead: The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the act) places a duty on various bodies to clear litter from their land. For many beaches the duty body is the local authority. However, as independent organisations how they fulfil that duty and with what resources is for each local authority to determine, provided they meet the standards in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (COPLAR).

  COPLAR provides practical guidance on the discharge of duties imposed on Scottish local authorities and other duty bodies by the act to keep specified land clear of litter and refuse.

  COPLAR was published by Scottish ministers in December 2006 following a revision of the litter and fly tipping provisions of the act. COPLAR helps to explain who has a duty to clean public places, what their responsibility is, how individuals can tell if a place is clean, and what to do if you don’t think public places are of an acceptable standard in terms of litter and fly tipping.

  Major amendments to the code included a greater focus on beach cleansing standards and guidance on issuing fixed penalty notices. Further information, including an electronic copy of COPLAR is available from http://www.littercode.co.uk/.

  This website is operated by the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.

  However that the duty to clean beaches extends only to above the high water mark and litter from ships and marine installations is the responsibility of the UK Government.

Marine Environment

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the provisions of the Marine (Scotland) Bill will make it easier for public bodies to tackle the pollution of beaches by litter from land and sea.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is supporting initiatives on marine and coastal litter and expects local authorities and other bodies to continue to work together to take action to tackle the problem.

  The Marine (Scotland) Bill includes proposals for a new system of marine planning including new powers to define Scottish marine regions for which a local marine plan should be prepared in consultation with stakeholders. The proposals also include provisions for the co-ordination of plans covering the terrestrial and marine environment. These proposals provide an opportunity for better consideration of beach and marine litter issues where necessary.

Marine Environment

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed with HM Government or any other government options for international efforts to tackle the pollution of Scotland’s beaches by litter from the sea.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is actively involved in discussions with the UK Government and devolved administrations as part of our involvement in wider international efforts on control of marine litter. The Fishing for Litter initiative was recently considered at the British-Irish Council Environment Group on 19 April 2009. Also, the OSPAR Biodiversity Committee and its Environmental Impacts of Human Activities Working Group continue to consider the issue of marine litter.

Marine Environment

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to increase public awareness of the problems of the pollution of beaches by litter from land and sea to encourage voluntary action to reduce the deliberate and accidental release of litter.

Richard Lochhead: To help tackle the issue the Scottish Government continues to provide funding to the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) who run a number of anti-litter campaigns designed to raise public awareness of the problem. KSB also coordinate a number of other programmes, including the Blue Flag award scheme and the Seaside Award.

  In April, KSB once again ran their annual month long "National Spring Clean" campaign. The 2009 campaign has proven to be a great success, with a record level of almost 58,000 people volunteering to participate in clean-up events across Scotland. Coastal clean-up events proved to be very popular, with 80 such events involving a total of 8,665 volunteers talking place. Overall, enough litter was collected across Scotland to fill almost 29,000 wheelie bins. While many groups already take part in voluntary clean ups organised by KSB during the rest of the year, National Spring Clean provides an opportunity for schools, youth clubs, environmental organisations, voluntary groups, community gatherings and businesses to play an important part in a bigger, coordinated campaign.

  KSB, through the two beach award schemes, the Blue Flag and the Seaside Award, also encourages beach managers to provide information about beach litter and its impacts at all award beach information boards to raise public awareness of the problems.

  Through the Scottish Bathing Water Litter Grant Scheme we are also tackling the litter problem at bathing waters and their beaches. The grant scheme, administered by KSB on our behalf, aims to encourage communities to carry out clean-ups of beaches close to bathing waters, or to run litter prevention campaigns or support and promote community action with a focus on reducing marine and coastal litter pollution. The 2009-10 grant application deadline is the end of June 2009. Further information is available on the KSB website http://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/.

Marine Environment

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to increase the enforcement of existing legislation prohibiting the dropping of litter or other rubbish to reduce the problems of the pollution of beaches by litter from land and sea.

Richard Lochhead: Existing legislation in Scotland is amongst the toughest in Europe. A person who is caught littering is, if the case goes to court, liable to a fine of up to £2,500. Alternatively, the person may be offered the opportunity to pay a fixed penalty fine, the level of which is £50.

  Police officers and designated local authority officers have the power to issue fixed penalty notices to those who litter. However, as independent bodies, whether local authorities empower officials to issue notices and whether police forces exercise their powers, is entirely up to them. They are encouraged to do so by the Scottish Government.

  The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (COPLAR) provides practical guidance on the use of the litter enforcement powers contained in the act. COPLAR website, operated by the independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB), provides guidance on the issuing of fixed penalty fines. The information can be found at http://www.littercode.org/index.asp?pg=41.

Rail Network

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason rail services between Glasgow Central and Kilmarnock via Dunlop and Kilmaurs are scheduled to run on an hourly basis, given that the timetable on page 31 of the ScotRail franchise extension amendment agreement of 2 April 2008 shows a half-hourly service on this route.

The Executive has supplied the following corrected answer:

Stewart Stevenson: Priced Option 4 "Operation of Kilmarnock half hourly service and recast of G&SW timetable being Ayr-Girvan and Stranraer-Glasgow services" includes an indicative timetable developed for resourcing purposes to allow an understanding of the franchise operating costs.

  The decision to take forward the current timetable and calling pattern is based primarily on economic analysis and aspirations to improve the journey times and connections between Glasgow to Kilmarnock and beyond.

  The timetable will be based upon a half hourly service between Glasgow and Kilmarnock throughout the day. Residents of Kilmaurs and Dunlop will benefit from this half hourly service during peak times as well as two additional trains mid-morning and mid-afternoon. This will be an increase in trains per day at each station from 36 to 51.

Swimming Pools

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with local authorities since May 2007 regarding the construction of Olympic-standard swimming pools and, if so, when and where any such pools will be built.

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with local authorities since May 2007 regarding the construction of new swimming pools and, if so, when and where any such pools will be built.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is for individual local authorities to decide whether to progress plans for swimming pools in meeting their statutory responsibility to ensure there is adequate provision of sporting and recreational facilities. However sportscotland are currently working with Aberdeen City Council and Dundee City Council on their applications for 50-metre pools.

  The application follows a two stage process. Stage one would normally take around three weeks to consider with the stage two taking around three months, however this timescale is dependant upon sportscotland and the local authorities involved.

Swimming Pools

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-15382 by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008, whether it has attempted to ascertain how many local authorities provide free or discounted access to their swimming pools.

Nicola Sturgeon: Officials have asked sportscotland through its partnership manager network to establish as best they can the number and range of schemes in place in local authorities which offer free or discounted access to their swimming pools.

Swimming Pools

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has provided guidance to local authorities regarding free or discounted access to their swimming pools.

Nicola Sturgeon: We will continue to work with local government to develop policy in areas where local government has a key interest including our ambitions for swimming.

  There are a number of local authorities such as Perth and Kinross, Moray and Inverclyde who already provide free or discounted access to their swimming pools.

  sportscotland meets with local authorities and the governing body, Scottish Swimming, to discuss a wide range of swimming issues.

  Scottish Swimming focuses on promoting their programmes such as Learn to Swim within local authorities. Scottish Swimming’s Learn to Swim programme sets national standards for swimming in Scotland, ensuring a fun, challenging and consistent approach to swimming for the swimmer, teacher, coach and parent.

Vaccinations

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under the age of 16 have not had the full MMR vaccination.

Nicola Sturgeon: As part of the childhood immunisation programme, two doses of MMR vaccine are routinely offered to children by five years of age. In Scotland, 45,505 children (7.0%) between the ages of five and 16 had not received any immunisation with MMR as at 31 March 2009. A further 36,838 children (5.7%) had received one but not both MMR immunisations offered.

Vaccinations

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what it regards as the level of effective immunisation derived from having a single or full course of injections of the MMR vaccine.

Nicola Sturgeon: At a population level, current estimates are that 90% of those immunised would be protected from measles after one dose of MMR, and 99% after two doses of MMR. For mumps the equivalent figures are 87.8% after one dose and 94.6% after two doses, and for rubella they are 95% after one dose and 99% after two.

Vaccinations

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under the age of 16 it considers are at risk of measles because of either non-vaccination or inadequate response to vaccination.

Nicola Sturgeon: For children aged less than five, the total number susceptible to measles is estimated at 34,557, or 12% of that total population. This figure is a mixture of children who are not yet eligible for vaccination, those who have not been vaccinated, and those who have made an inadequate response to the vaccine. This figure does not include any children aged less than one year as a proportion of these children will be protected by maternal antibodies.

  For children aged over five, all of whom will have been routinely offered two doses of MMR, the total number susceptible is 54,851, or 8% of that total population. This figure relates to those who have not been vaccinated and those who will have made an inadequate response to the vaccine.

Waste Management

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering introducing higher levels of fines for landfill operators that contravene their licence conditions.

Richard Lochhead: No. There is no limit on the maximum fine which may be levied, in proceedings on indictment, on a landfill operator who contravenes licence conditions.

Waste Management

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what legislation would permit ministers to introduce selective landfill bans.

Richard Lochhead: As Stewart Stevenson told the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee on 9 June 2009, section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 allows ministers to make regulations which, inter alia , impose conditions to be required in landfill permits. These conditions could include selective bans. These powers have already been exercised to make selective landfill bans in the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003.

  Furthermore, ministers may use the power in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 to make regulations implementing community obligations, or about matters relating to such obligations. The Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) requires the prioritisation of prevention, re-use and recycling over other recovery and disposal. Selective bans may be a means of achieving the required prioritisation.

Waste Management

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what legislation would permit ministers to introduce selective incineration bans.

Richard Lochhead: As Stewart Stevenson told the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee on 9 June 2009, section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 allows ministers to make regulations which, inter alia , impose conditions to be required in incineration permits. These conditions could include selective bans. These powers have already been exercised to make selective incineration bans in the Waste Batteries (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

  Furthermore, ministers may use the power in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 to make regulations implementing community obligations, or about matters relating to such obligations. The Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) requires the prioritisation of prevention, re-use and recycling over other recovery and disposal. Selective bans may be a means of achieving the required prioritisation.